Wanika. 
119 
the breasts of these people, but rather in the dire and 
inexorable tyranny of custom. 
Marriage with the Wanika is a very free and easy 
arrangement, and it is effected by the payment of 
dowry on the part of the bridegroom to the father of 
the bride. It is nothing more nor less than the pur- 
chase of a wife. The terms settled, a festival is held in 
which the friends of both families and many others 
join. All are witnesses of the event, and of course the 
celebration fastens it upon their minds. It is accom- 
panied with a great deal of drunkenness, debauchery, 
and license ; vocal and instrumental music enlivens 
the occasion, and all extra excitement is let off by 
Kimombui," and other dances of a similar nature. 
The dowry paid for a wife is not so large in these 
as it is said to have been in former days. A slave 
woman can be purchased anywhere on the coast for 
from twenty-five to thirty dollars, and in the interior 
they become cheaper and cheaper the farther you go 
for them. Such being the case, fathers have to accept 
lower prices, otherwise they would find their daughters 
hanging on their hands, for men would purchase 
slaves in preference to marrying free women. Here 
there is a glimpse of the dreadfully demoralizing 
influence which the existence of the slave-trade must 
have upon the characters and social condition of 
these peoples. Let Christian philanthropists take 
home to their hearts the lesson herein taught 
The social condition of woman has already been 
hinted at ; it is something fearful, and will hardly 
bear looking at A woman here is a toy, a tool, a 
slave in the very worst sense ; indeed she is treated as 
though she were a mere brute ! 
